I feel like a lot of this week has been lost in a fog. I’ve been battling intermittent headaches since Tuesday. The first day was the worst, so hopefully this will fade out soon. I almost wonder if it’s viral, since Jim had a headache Saturday night and Sunday and Mittu had one Sunday.

Even still, there are blessings scattered throughout our days. I’m sharing a few with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. The annual Chalk Walk. I’ve wanted to attend this for years, but somehow we always missed it until now. It’s a day when people are invited to do chalk drawings on Market Square downtown. I’m not sure how it works–they have to sign up ahead of time and are assigned a number, and people can vote for their favorites. There are prizes in several categories, but I am not sure what they were. Some squares were done by professional artists, some just for fun, some by children. Here are a few I got pictures of:

This gives you an idea how big the squares were.

Some, like this one, took up two squares.

In all honesty, the event wasn’t quite as epic as I expected. It was incredibly crowded. We went in the later afternoon, when most of the artists would be done or nearly so. But I guess a lot of people had the same idea. 🙂 Downtown Knoxville isn’t usually hard to navigate–nowhere near as bad as Atlanta–but with this and some other events going on, it took forever to get in and out of the parking garage.

Still, I was glad I finally got to attend. I don’t know if we will next year. We wondered whether enough of the drawings would still be visible the next day–we might be able to stroll around at more leisure then.

Jason, Mittu, and Timothy had gone with us to the chalk drawings. They’re more familiar with the downtown area than we are and recommended going for a late lunch/early dinner at Maple Hall. It’s a bowling alley in an old building, but they also serve great food, and most of the crowd would probably be going to other restaurants. That turned out to be true–the place was not crowded, though it was loud. Their turkey club sandwich was wonderful.

Then we went to a nearby chocolate shop for some take-home sweets. When Jim and I got home, we crashed on the couch and dozed off.

2. Another serendipitous coupon. I got a notice that I received a $3 coupon for a Kindle book due to their rewards program right when I was considering a book for $2.99.

3. Intersections of reading. I’m in Philippians, and a few days ago read in chapter 2 to “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (verse 5) and some of the surrounding verses about unity and humility. I’m using Wiersbe’s commentary, Be Joyful (Philippians): Even When Things Go Wrong, You Can Have Joy. A couple of days later, I started reading Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul by Hannah Anderson. Her introductory pages mentioned the same passage. A couple of days later, I turned on BBN Radio while puttering in the kitchen, and Chuck Swindoll was discussing the same passage. Then a few friends from a church we attended when we were first married posted a sermon by the pastor there, so I listened to it–and he discussed the same passage.

Do you think maybe God wants me to hone in on this passage? 🙂

4. Another Crumbl cookie. They change their menu every week, only offering six choices at a time. This week they had a glazed oatmeal cookie that was incredible.

5. My thoughtful husband got dinner out for us the day my headache was the worst.

So it was not a bad week, even though I wasn’t operating on all cylinders most of it.

Most of all this week, I am thankful that we celebrate Jesus’ death for our sins and His resurrection on Sunday. Happy Easter to you and yours.